


Swing Time

by PlanetClare



Series: The Bucky Chronicles [1]
Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types, James "Bucky" Barnes - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: 1940s, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Boys, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Misses Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes in Space, Bucky Barnes is Back in Brooklyn, Classic Movie Stars, Classic Movies - Freeform, Cybernetics, Friendship, Gen, Harley-Davidson, Man Out of Time, Man on the Wall, Movie Night, Multi, Old Friends, Pizza, Planet Mer-z-bow, Reminisce, Reverie, Shared Life Experience, U.S. USO Dance, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, supportive Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3842392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetClare/pseuds/PlanetClare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While visiting Earth on a break from Nick Fury’s secret space station, Bucky Barnes visits his best friend Steve Rogers as the two reconnect with one another and reminisce about the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swing Time

In the days of kings and castles, a man stood watch on the battlements or in the tower of a mighty fortress and kept an eye on the horizon in order to warn his ruler of imminent attack. Like a sailor who sits in the crow’s nest of a ship’s mast, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Man On The Wall watches from a space station to do more than just look for imminent danger – he does whatever it takes to prevent it and to protect Earth from intergalactic threat. For decades, Nick Fury was Earth’s Man On The Wall, but now Bucky Barnes has assumed the responsibility. It is a lifetime job that will keep him in space until someone else assumes the position or it is no longer necessary, but Bucky is willing to do it to protect the planet and to redeem himself for his actions as the Winter Soldier.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Bucky arrived at Steve’s apartment just as the sun was setting. Before he could even ring the doorbell, he saw that the door was slightly ajar.

“You know, you really need to stop doing that,” Bucky advised upon entering. “I could be anyone.”

“You say that every time you come over,” Steve called from his kitchen. “I knew it was you. I could hear your Harley as you turned the corner. Dinner should be here in a few minutes.”

“Luigi’s?” Bucky asked as he closed and locked the door.

“Best pizza in Brooklyn,” Steve said setting the table.

Bucky took off his leather jacket and gloves. Tucking the gloves inside his motorcycle helmet, he then placed the helmet on the floor next to Steve’s front door.

Needing to check on a lead, do some quick research, and pick up equipment, Bucky was back on Earth for two days. While here, he wanted to spend a little time with his best friend Steve since he did not know how long he would be gone this time or if he would ever come back.

Bucky sat on a kitchen bar stool and smoothed his dark brown hair out of his face. Thinking his friend was looking a bit shaggy, Steve was going to suggest a trim but thought better of it. Bucky had considered cutting at least the back but with more important things on his mind such as the safety of the universe, he never got around to doing it.

Steve noticed the pensive look on his friend’s face. While washing his hands at the sink, he advised, “You don’t have to go back, Buck. S.H.I.E.L.D. could send someone else.”

“I have to. Someone has to do it, and I owe it to Nick,” Bucky almost whispered, seemingly lost in thought. “Besides,” he said a bit louder, “Who would they send – you?” The sly smile on Bucky’s face told Steve that he was joking. In exchange, Steve gave Bucky a crooked grin.

Just then, the doorbell rang. “Pizza!” Steve clapped his wet hands together creating water spots on his dark blue t-shirt. He plunged a hand into the pocket of his jeans as he walked toward the front door.

Upon opening the door, Steve found a young man holding a pizza carton and a large white bag containing this evening’s dinner. On the front of the bag was a cartoon of Chef Luigi single-handedly holding a steaming pizza high above his head as he smiled at the viewer.

“That’ll be $26.50, sir,” the young man chimed. Steve handed him $35.

“Hey! You’re –”

“Yeah,” Steve smiled and interrupted. “Keep the change,” he said as he hurriedly closed the door. Steve still felt awkward whenever people recognized him. He did not want to appear rude to the kid, but he also did not want to keep Bucky waiting nor their food to get cold.

Steve quickly set down the carton and bag on the kitchen counter and began emptying the bag’s contents. He handed Bucky the antipasto and garlic bread, which Bucky placed on the table. Bucky returned for the cannelloni, and Steve placed the pizza carton in the center of the table.

“Let’s eat!” Steve beckoned.

As the two munched on their 3-meat pizza, they reminisced about how much they loved going to Luigi’s when they were younger. They thought it was great that after so many years, the restaurant was still open.

Bucky stood and walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets. Opening the door, he reached in and pulled out a bottle of Tabasco. Returning to the table, he doused his slice of pizza and cannelloni with the hot sauce.

“I see you still like to live dangerously,” Steve observed.

“Guilty as charged, my friend,” Bucky replied.

Suddenly, Bucky’s cell phone rang.

Looking at the phone’s screen, Bucky asked, “Mind if I take this?” Normally, he would never interrupt his time with Steve, but he feared this call could not wait.

“Go right ahead,” Steve responded. Since Bucky was going back into space soon, Steve did not mind. It might be important.

“Hey!...What?...Oh, yeah…That’d be great!...I appreciate that…What?...No, he has enough food for now…Ok…You have a key, so you can let yourself in and out…Yeah, I’ll see you soon…Bye!”

“Sorry about that,” Bucky said sheepishly.

“No worries, Buck,” Steve said.

The two sat eating in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Steve could not help himself.

“So…who was that on the phone?”

“Uh…that was Daisy,” Bucky offered but did not go any further.

Raising his eyebrows, Steve could not hide his surprise and approval.

“Really?! Since when –” Steve began.

“It’s not what you think,” Bucky interrupted. “She needed a place to stay while we’re here. It just made sense for her to stay at my place. Besides, she’s keeping an eye on Reznor for me,” he continued.

“So, who is Reznor?” Steve asked curiously.

When I was captured by the planet Syro’s tyrannical ruler and pronounced guilty of harboring killing thoughts, my sentence was transfiguration – that my mind be transferred into the body of the Sacred Reznor. He’s an animal that resembles an aardvark.”

“And you didn’t think that would be an improvement?” Steve ribbed.

“Hilarious,” Bucky deadpanned.

“Just as the sentence was about to be carried out, Daisy assassinated their ruler. While some Syrons fled in a panic, others begged me to be their new ruler. It was then that I noticed Reznor cowering in a corner alone and frightened. The next night during dinner, Daisy noticed his nose poking out of my jacket and saw me discreetly feeding him scraps from my plate.”

“Why did you steal him?” Steve pressed.

Smiling shyly, the deadliest assassin in the universe admitted, “I have a soft side, and Reznor has been my pet ever since.”

“Well, I hope that aardvark doesn’t eat you out of house and home, my friend,” Steve joked. Bucky smirked and awkwardly shifted in his seat.

As the two continued eating their meal, Steve’s thoughts returned to Bucky and Daisy. He did not believe that there was nothing more to their friendship and actually hoped there _was_ more now that Bucky and Natasha Romanov – the Black Widow – were no longer lovers. From the moment they met, Steve and Bucky had always had a solid bond of trust and loyalty to one another. They always had each other’s back and now that Steve was separated from Bucky, it gave him comfort knowing that Daisy – a former head of S.H.I.E.L.D. – was at Bucky’s side to be his close friend and capable protector. Still, he held out hope for Natasha since she was the love of Bucky’s life.

Cautiously, Steve asked, “Are you still avoiding Natasha?”

“Steve!” Bucky scolded. “I told you – it’s complicated.”

“I know. I know. Sorry,” Steve said apologetically. He knew that it still pained Bucky to be around Natasha ever since her mind was wiped and all memories of her romance with him were lost. Steve thought it did the two more harm than good for Bucky to keep his distance from her. He thought that if they had more contact with each other before Bucky left for the space station, it might have helped Natasha to remember him. Even now, Bucky could always contact her by satellite if he chose to do so. Not wanting to upset him again, Steve dropped the subject and the two friends finished their meal in silence.

Helping Steve to clear the table, Bucky asked, “So, what about you? Still not seeing anyone?” Bucky was worried about Steve spending too much time alone. It was different for Bucky. He was used to a solitary life, but he knew that Steve was not so inclined.

“Well, my last serious girlfriend shot me, so…” Steve joked wryly. Bucky frowned. Finally, Steve shrugged and offered, “It’s complicated.” Bucky decided not to press the issue.

As Bucky started to wash his plate, Steve said, “Leave that. We’ve got a full evening ahead, and you’ve got a date with Betty Grable.”

Retiring to the living room, Steve and Bucky kicked off their shoes. Bucky got comfortable on the sofa while Steve knelt in front of the plasma screen and DVR player. Picking up a short stack of DVDs, Steve said, “Dealer’s choice!” as he put down all but one disc and inserted it into the player. As the opening credits of “Springtime In The Rockies” began, Steve settled into his cozy club chair.

Although Bucky had become quite adept at using a computer and other devices, he still was not much of a TV viewer. He preferred to tinker in his work room building models and repairing things. He felt a kinship with mechanical devices – a kinship that he knew Steve could never truly understand. Still, he marveled at how Steve had fully embraced modern technology.

“Hey, Buck?” Steve asked his pal. “Remember that U.S.O. girl you tried to hook me up with?”

There were _lots_ of U.S.O. girls, Steve,” he replied with a devilish grin. “Which one?”

“You know which one!” Steve joshed as he threw a small sofa pillow at Bucky. “The one who worked the swing shift at Lockheed.”

“Oh, _that_ one!” Bucky laughed.

“You said I should ask her out because she looked like Joan Leslie and had Deanna Durbin’s dimples.”

“I didn’t try to set you up with her because she had dimples, you dope!” Bucky snorted and threw the sofa pillow back. “I arranged that one because she had Betty Grable’s legs and danced like a Goldwyn Girl.” Bucky closed his eyes and smiled. “I can still see her like it was yesterday. That girl belonged in a Busby Berkeley film, and you could have been Dick Powell for the night…but you were too shy. I was pulling for you, man.”

“You always had my back, Buck – that’s true,” Steve said wistfully.

“And you mine,” Bucky replied. “Remember the fight later that night? That little redhead and I were too close to the edge of the dance floor and when I spun her, she bumped into that sailor and spilled a drink all over his uniform.” The two friends howled with laughter at remembering the scene.

Steve cackled so hard that his stomach ached, and Bucky wiped tears from his eyes. “Yeah, was he ever mad at you!” Steve recalled. “That guy sure could punch,” he said becoming a bit serious. “Good thing the MPs got there when they did. You were holding your own, but…”

“Hey, I had him on the ropes, pal,” Bucky chided. “Still, I could have spent the night in the slammer if you hadn’t thrown a tablecloth over his head. Dragging me out through the club’s kitchen was a smooth getaway,” Bucky confessed.

“Well, you would have done the same for me.”

“And _have_ _,_ ” Bucky reminded him.

For a minute, the two sat quietly watching the film. Finally, as he gazed longingly at Betty Grable, Steve mused, “They don’t make ‘em like her anymore.”

“No, they sure don’t,” Bucky agreed wistfully. “But then again…” His voice trailed off as he fell into thoughts all his own.

By the time they moved on to “Swing Time,” Bucky was hungry again. Steve microwaved some popcorn and poured it into a big bowl. He sat on the sofa next to Bucky and placed the bowl between them.

“If only I had gotten to cut a rug with Ginger Rogers at a U.S.O. dance!” Steve said disappointedly.

“As if you could have kept up with her, Twinkle Toes!” Bucky laughed. “You would have been too afraid to ask her.”

“Well, maybe I would have,” Steve quipped. “After all, we have the same last name,” he declared proudly.

Humoring him, Bucky said, “Sure…that’s all it takes!”

“She wouldn’t have had to change her monogrammed towels or note paper,” Steve continued.

“I’ve got to admire your optimism but if you keep on about Ginger Rogers, I’ll tell Betty Grable you’re cheating on her,” Bucky cautioned.

“Oh, you be quiet,” Steve teased. After a short pause, they both burst into laughter again.

Halfway through “Four Jills In A Jeep,” Steve looked over and saw that Bucky was fast asleep. He had been so engrossed in the film and Bucky was so quiet that Steve had not noticed.

Trying not to wake him, Steve stood and gently lifted Bucky’s legs onto the sofa. He then quietly went to his hall cabinets and brought back two large brown blankets. Ironically, the blankets looked much like the army-issued ones that Steve and Bucky used during the war. Steve tucked one blanket in around Bucky and sat in the club chair curling himself up in the other blanket. Using the remote control, he lowered the volume on the TV so as not to disturb Bucky’s slumbers. Normally, the Winter Soldier would have been instantly awakened by the slightest sound or touch but next to his oldest and dearest friend, he felt safer and slept deeper than he had in years.

* * * * * *

The next morning, Bucky awakened to the smell of maple flavored sausage coming from the kitchen. He heard the coffee maker sputtering out a fresh pot and could smell its robust aroma. Opening his eyes halfway, Bucky peered into the kitchen and saw Steve hard at work cooking breakfast. Bucky looked down at the blanket and lifted it to see that he was still wearing the black t-shirt and blue jeans that he wore when he arrived at Steve’s the night before.

Sitting up on the sofa, he stretched, yawned deeply, and then rubbed his pale blue eyes.

“Morning, sleepyhead!” Steve called to his friend. “Get washed up. Breakfast is ready!”

Bucky said nothing as he dragged himself to the bathroom. He washed his face and used the spare toothbrush that Steve kept for him in the medicine cabinet. After he showered and toweled dry, he left his long hair semi-wet. Bucky crossed into the bedroom and put on the t-shirt and jeans that Steve left for him on his bed. Going commando, he zipped the jeans and headed to the kitchen.

Pouring orange juice into their glasses, Steve asked, “What time do you ship out?”

“1300 hours,” Bucky said, chewing his buttered wheat toast.

Steve didn’t know what to say. He had no idea when he’d see him again, nor could Bucky tell him. Steve tried to convince himself that his pal would be ok, but still he worried. Bucky was fearless, and that sometimes frightened Steve because Bucky had a life pattern of rushing into situations with no set plan. The only thing that allayed Steve’s worries was knowing that the ever-responsible Daisy was going with Bucky. Like Steve, Daisy always had his back.

Bucky could read the worry on Steve’s face.

“I’ll be fine, Steve. WE’LL be fine,” he said including Daisy in the assurance.

“I know,” Steve whispered unconvincingly as he picked at his scrambled egg whites. He was still worried and sad to say good-bye.

Trying to lighten the mood, Steve smiled knowingly and asked, “You taking Reznor with you?”

“Of course!” Bucky chirped. “He’s my baby.”

“I thought Winnifred was your baby,” Steve joked.

“She IS,” Bucky admitted lovingly about his Harley, which he named after his mother, “but Reznor’s my OTHER baby,” he declared proudly. The two laughed and took their plates to the sink.

“Look, I better get going,” Bucky said. “Thanks for everything.”

“Anytime, Buck.” Steve sighed heavily and followed his friend to the door. Bucky put on his leather jacket and then picked up his helmet.

Raising his arms, Steve motioned for a hug, and Bucky was more than happy to oblige. The two stood at Steve’s door hugging for what felt like an eternity. Finally, they parted. Bucky opened the door and stepped outside while Steve stood in the doorway watching him descend the steps.

Bucky straddled his Harley and put on his gloves. Before he slipped his helmet on, Steve grinned and called down to him from the top of the steps, “Please don’t do anything stupid while you’re gone.”

“How can I?” Bucky asked. “You’re keeping all the stupid with you!”

The two smiled at each other, and then Bucky started his bike’s engine. Without looking back, Bucky peeled off and rode down the street. Steve watched until he couldn’t see him anymore. As his deep blue eyes started to fill with tears, Steve stepped inside his apartment and shut the door.

Bucky fought back tears as he drove to his apartment across town. It was a modest apartment – smaller than Steve’s – and it sat behind a house where it was hidden from the street. Bucky drove his bike into the driveway which doubled as the access path to his apartment.

Coming to a stop in the garage that he shared with the older lady who owned the house, Bucky killed the engine. He sat for a few minutes thinking about Steve and the mission ahead of him. Finally, he got off the bike and walked to his front door. Once inside, he saw Daisy standing in the small living room.

“Look, Reznor! Your daddy’s home,” the petite brunette joked as she cradled the sacred aardvark in her arms as if it were a baby.

Bucky stopped for a moment to admire this sight. He and Daisy were partners, but would it be so bad if they took their friendship to the next level? Would it be so wrong? He decided he would consider that another day. For now, it was time to finish packing and get ready for the long trip back to Fury’s space station.

Having Daisy by his side helped to take the sting out of leaving Earth again. Bucky knew that he had a job to do, and having her as his partner made it easier. Daisy was his equal and they understood each other. Right now, that meant a lot to him.

“Let’s get going. I’ve got your duffle bag,” Bucky said.

“I’ve got Reznor,” Daisy replied, smiling sweetly.

Holding the door open for her, Bucky let Daisy exit first. He slowly looked around his living room and then closed the door behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank my sister, author Daria H. Brooks, for her helpful advice. As a poet, I’ve written only one previous short story, so her suggestions and support are invaluable to me. 
> 
> © 2015 Planet Press
> 
> All characters herein are the property of Marvel Comics.


End file.
